


What happens now?

by lostnfinding



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Farrah centered, Farrah needs a hug, Farrah's mom gets custody, Healing, Hospitals, Mentions of Violence, Mentions of addiction, Recovery, honestly they all need a hug but this is Farrah centered so yeah, just please someone give her a hug she needs it, mentions of custody battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27281218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostnfinding/pseuds/lostnfinding
Summary: After the sleepover, Farrah was in shock. She had almost died. She had almost been murdered. She knew how much of a mess she had been the year before, and she wanted to get better. But moving to the other side of the country proves that recovery is harder than people think----Everyone lives but Farrah's mom gets custody AU (by @lexiirosee or @got-my-heart-in-my-hand (on tumblr))
Relationships: Annleigh & Farrah (We Are The Tigers), Farrah & Mattie (We Are The Tigers)
Kudos: 10





	What happens now?

**Author's Note:**

> TW: mentions of violence, references to addiction, custody battles (mention), PTSD, hospitals (i wrote this from research and i deeply apologize if i got anything wrong, please tell me if i offended or said anything that was wrong)

Farrah was still in shock. It wasn’t surprising, of course. She was stabbed, she almost died. The captain of the cheer team attempted to murder not only her, but also Chess, because she thought they were “a tumor on the team”. That hurt. Being called a tumor. She was a burden, an issue to be fixed. The first week after the sleepover, she didn’t talk, no matter how many times her dad asked her too, not even when the therapist assigned to her spent almost one hour just staring at her. She didn't budge. Not until Annleigh went to visit her.  
She was calm, apologetic, caring. When she got in, she looked like she was crying, and Farrah’s first instinct was to ask if she was okay.  
“You- you talked” the older girl whispered, getting closer to the hospital bed.  
“I guess…” she whispered back, and smiled a bit. Annleigh smiled back and wrapped her in a hug, taking the sophomore by surprise.  
“I’m so sorry, Farrah, I’m so sorry. I missed you.” when she said that, Farrah smiled and hugged her back.  
“Sorry for what?”  
“I was awful to you. I should’ve seen you needed help, I should’ve been nicer,,, I- I should’ve been a better sister.”   
“I wasn’t the best sister either. I’m sorry.”  
“All that I care about is that you’re okay. I was so scared you were going to…” she couldn’t finish the sentence.  
“How… how’s Chess? They said she- Ril- you know…”  
“She’s alive, and awake. That’s all I know.”  
“Was anyone else hurt?”  
“No, everyone is good.” Annleigh had taken a seat on the chair beside her.  
“I was a shitty teammate, wasn’t I? Going to practice and games drunk and all that…”  
“You can still get better.”  
“I… I do want to get better.” Farrah nodded.  
“Then you will.” her sister reassured her.  
“You really think I can do it?”   
“I do. And you won’t be alone. We’ll help you.”  
\--  
And Farrah was getting better. The next two weeks she spent in the hospital, she started to open up to her therapist. It wasn’t easy, but it was something. Her teammates visited her, and they started to get along. It wasn’t perfect, but they did have some type of harmony.  
Everything was going okay, until Farrah’s world fell apart for the second time that month.  
“What do you mean, she’s filing for custody?!”  
“Your mother wants to make sure you’re okay-”  
“By taking me to the other side of the country? No, I wanna stay here!”  
“This isn’t up to you anymore, I’m sorry.”  
“This is bullshit.” she said, and got up, going to her room and shutting the door behind her. She broke down, not knowing what to do. If she went to her mother’s, she’d lose everything she knew. She’d be alone again, and she was terrified of what was going to happen. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.  
“Farrah? Can I come in?” Annleigh’s voice asked through the door. The younger girl tried to wipe her tears and compose herself before telling her to come in. “Hey.” she sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her. Farrah buried her face on her sister’s neck and sobbed.  
"I don't wanna go, Ann."  
"I don't want you to go either, but if they say you have to, there's nothing we can do. But you'll still be able to visit us, and I'll call you and help you with your homework and your new cheer team and anything you need."   
"I'm scared I'll be alone again."  
"You won't be alone. You'll have me."   
"You promise?"  
"I promise."  
\--  
"They're all staring." Mattie walked beside Farrah, uncomfortable with all the stares she had yet to get used to.  
"It's okay, it doesn't matter."  
"How do you do it?"  
"Most days I don't. I used to have a coping mechanism but we know how well that went." they both knew she was talking about the drinking. "Honestly, I'm actually gonna miss this."  
"I bet your new school is gonna be awesome"  
"I hope so. I'm gonna miss all of you guys tho."  
"We'll still talk. And when you come visit your dad, we can meet up! And look on the bright side, you'll have a fresh start!"  
"Yeah, I probably need one of those."  
"You'll be alright, Farrah. And even when you aren't, we're here to help you."  
\--  
Farrah was coming back to her hometown after a month of settling in her new house and school. A month and she had made exactly zero friends. She had acquaintances, people she shared a twelve place lunch table with and who would partner with her for projects. But she didn't have anyone to call in the middle of the night, or anyone to go to her house and spend the quiet friday afternoons with.  
Her mom was almost never home, and it was a clear contrast from always having Annleigh there. She knew her mom was trying, but it was hard for both of them. After spending so many years apart, it felt slightly awkward, but they were slowly getting used to each other.  
For Riley's trial, Farrah flew in alone, since her mom had to work. She was staying at her dad's while the trial was ongoing and they still needed her as a witness, which opened a few opportunities for her to hang out with the team. She met their new flier, Eva, and they even tried a few stunts, for old time's sake. She was happy there, truly happy. The circumstances could be better, but at that point she didn't care. they had evidence Riley did it, and she knew she was going to get convicted. And while she wasn't, Farrah would stay there, at home.  
\--  
Don't be mistaken. Just because Farrah was happy, it doesn't mean she wasn't stressed. Facing Riley would be one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Flashes of that night were coming back, blurry, but they were there. The feeling was more present than the facts, and she woke up more than once with the feeling of the knife on her stomach. She didn’t scream, she didn’t say anything, she just curled up and let herself cry. She was alive, but she felt like she was trapped in that bathroom, bleeding out and dying. Only this time, no one came to save her, and the feeling didn’t go away either. She just waited there, crying and waiting for the exhaustion to take her to sleep.  
\--  
The trial passed, Riley was sentenced and Farrah was shipped back to Boston. Everyone knew about it, and she either got sympathetic glances or no glances at all. No one would talk to her or dare to make eye contact, so she was alone. Again.  
She missed her town, her school, her old team. She missed having people who at least talked to her, she missed not being the seemingly fragile new kid, she missed having people to hang out with, she missed going to parties. She knew what she had to do to get that back, but she couldn’t. The last time she brought that much attention, she was almost killed, she wasn’t going to do that again. She couldn’t join the cheer team either, she couldn’t bring herself to even look at the cheerleaders. So she was alone, and she would stay alone  
\--  
“Wow, you’re new school is really cool.” Farrah turned around to find Mattie standing behind her, looking at the building.  
“Mattie!”  
“Hi!”  
“What are you doing here?” she hugged her friend, nearly crying with happiness.  
“I’m visiting some family in New Jersey and asked my parents if i could stop here for a couple days.” the younger girl smiled. “I thought maybe you could use a friend.” She shrugged.  
“Yeah, I think I can.”  
They got to Farrah’s apartment and went to her room, sitting on the bed.  
“How has Giles Corey been?”  
"It 's good! We haven’t been having a lot of trouble, actually. Chess is back on the team, Reese is doing our routines and Eva, our new flier, is pretty good! I think she and Kate have a thing. Cairo is pretty protective of everyone now, and she’s nicer. That’s what your sister says at least.”  
“Nice? Cairo? That's a change.” Farrah chuckled.  
“And how has it been here?”  
“It’s alright, just school.” she answered shortly.  
“Farrah… you know you can talk to me, right?”  
“It’s okay, I just, I feel a little lonely. I just have to adapt, I guess.” she gave her a small smile.  
“You’ve been talking to your therapist about this, right?”  
“I have. I really wanna get better. I am getting better.” Farrah felt tears forming on her eyes. “Sometimes I miss the me from last year. I didn’t think, I just did things. I didn’t have think about the future or whatever else. Sometimes I wondered what would have happened if Clark hadn’t found me.” she wiped the tears. “I still feel it, you know? I have panic attacks too. This guy in my Math class has the same name as her and when I heard someone calling him for the first time, I had to get out of class.”  
“I’m so sorry, so so so so sorry.”  
“It’s okay. My psychiatrist says it’s PTSD. If I still have it in a couple months, I’ll probably go on medication.”  
“If you ever need anything, I’m here, okay? If you ever feel like doing something, please call me or Annleigh or your parents or therapist. I don’t wanna see you hurt again.” Farrah hugged Mattie tight.  
“Thank you so much. It really means the world to me, having you here.”  
“That’s what friends are for. To protect you, even if it’s from yourself.”

**Author's Note:**

> okay i really liked writing this. also if you havent listened to Concert WATT i really recommend listening to it, it gives some insight into a few characters (including Farrah) and it's just really good


End file.
